Minimizing freediving risk part 3 – Spearfishing risk
safe spearfishing

Minimizing freediving risk part 3 – Spearfishing risk

Spearfishing brings with it tons of dangers that we should think about that aren’t covered in the former parts of the ‘risk series’ (shallow water blackout & compromised conditions). First of all, if you are spearfishing you are obviously using a sharp object that can skewer your dive buddy as easily as a fish. Second, struggling with a fish that is more combative than you expect at depth may tire you out and third, you may become entangled in your own line.

A tuna can take you for a really good ride
A tuna can take you for a really good ride

Spearfishing risk 1: Being shot

Most of us have seen the gory shots being shared on Facebook or other social media platforms. Spearfishers with spears through their legs, asses, arms, torsos and sometimes even heads. If you are lucky enough to survive the ordeal, you are bound to think about new ways to handle your slingshot skewer.

Never try to film your dive buddy with a camera on your gun

Believe it or not, this happens. Do never point your gun at anyone, not even unloaded. If you make a habit of pointing an unloaded gun at your dive buddies, at some point you’ll make a mistake and it will be loaded. If you have a go-pro on your speargun you are not going to be making movies of your dive buddies, and that is fine. The risk of being shot is lower if you are in a small group (2 or 3), and nearly 0% if you share a speargun. For obvious logistic reasons, sharing a speargun is a bit of a pain in the butt, but that’s better than a spear in the butt. Be careful of new dive buddies, because you can’t be sure of their experience and care with the guns.

Be careful around new dive buddies

If you have boat support, and you are being towed around by rope from reef to reef, make sure that the speargun is with the last person, or if there are more than one, that the spearguns are not armed and are on the boat.

Spearfishing risk 2. Entanglement

When you are spearfishing you are working with lines and sometimes, very long lines. Only if you are shooting small fish that are not likely to take you for a good ride can you get away with just a speargun and a few meters of line. If you are going for the bigger and stronger fish, like tuna and marlin, or big grouper, you will probably have the line of your spear rigged to a buoy with 20 m of line or so. That means you suddenly have a whopping 20+ m of line to get stuck in.  Always carry a good dive knife that is easy to access with either hand (I like a knife on my upper leg or the inside or the lower leg so I can always reach it).

Make sure you pick your battle accordingly. If you shoot a fish and it is attached to a buoy, dive to the surface first, and take a few hook and recovery breaths. Your buddy can worry about you, and stay close to the buoy and line, or if you have two buddies, one is your safety, and the other hauls the fish up. If you come up tired after a dive, do not start yanking on the rope right away but give yourself time and do it safely.

If you have ever fought with a big fish, you know that you should be thinking of a float rigged to your speargun, here is one way:

Spearfishing risk 3: Sharks and other big fish

There are two common encounters with big fish while spearfishing. The first is the big fish you spear and which you will need to fight in order to make it back up. The second is the fish that wants your fish. Usually these bull or tiger sharks, but other sharks are often interested too. If you are in great white territory, make sure you wear a shark shield when you’re diving. You might occasionally get your privates shocked, but it’s better than losing a leg. Having a few dead fish attached to your weight belt is perfect shark bait.

If you spear a fish that is too much to handle and you don’t have a float line, you may suddenly find yourself fighting to survive. You don’t want to lose your speargun nor the fish, but fighting a fish at the end of the dive may induce a blackout.

These are the only dangers that are specific to spearfishing, as opposed to freediving. Of course bad conditions can amplify anything that can go wrong (struggling with a big fish? Not a big problem if your buddy can see you, but a really bad situation if they can’t). Read more about those things here:

Minimizing freediving risk part 1: shallow water blackout

Minimizing freediving risk part 2: compromised conditions

 

Jaap

Jaap is a geologist by trade and a freediver by passion. Jaap wrote the book Longer and Deeper in 2018. His book teaches how to train for freediving and spearfishing on land.

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